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What does 徒花と咲いて散っていくきみに mean ? At first, I thought it means “To you _**and**_
a fruitless flower”, but later I saw the lyrics translating to “To you, who
bloomed and fell away _**as**_ a fruitless flower”

So, the translation makes me think this と means something like として、徒花のように, but
I’ve never seen と is used in this way.

If possible, please explain it to me in easy English. Thanks a lot.

<https://youtu.be/zuoVd2QNxJo?si=5JkfWfGi_8JkKrE1> The song.


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particle-と
徒花”と”咲いて散っていく = bloomed and fell away “as” a fruitless flower


This is a rare, old and literary usage of と for resultant state. A
representative example of this type of と is a set phrase 露と消える ("to vanish
like dew", "to disappear without a trace"). So "bloomed and fell away as a
fruitless flower" is a correct literal interpretation. 徒花と散る implies that
something ends up being a complete waste.

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  * [Understanding と in 兇暴な雄叫びを鬨の声と上げ](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/95370/5010)
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None of the references actually explain this properly. To understand this
usage, which is literary, some background is necessary. Classical Japanese has
two copulas, にある and とある, which were redued to なる and たる, and these two
copulas were used to form two types of 形容動詞, なり活用 and たり活用.

The modern な adjectives derive from the なり活用の形容動詞 (形動なり), for example,

静かなる ➞ 静かな  
遥かなる ➞ 遥かな

They are formed largely (but not exclusively) from native Japanese words, as
above, and you will still encounter the older forms in written Japanese, and
songs, where some kind of elegant, literary flavour is sought.

The たり活用の形容動詞 (形動たり) have only survived in literary Japanese, but occasionally
may be heard:

興味深々たるものがある 'There are things full of interest.'

純然たる片田舎で 'in a really (purely/unadulterated) out-of-the-way place'

and they are largely formed from two-character compounds.

Now, 形動なり, and thus な-adjectives, are adverbialized by changing な to に:

静かに暮らしている

while 形動たり are adverbialized with と:

二人は身をかくそうともしないで、通りの真中を堂々と歩いていった 'The pair of them, with no attempt at
concealment, walked boldy along the middle of the road.'

(Compare: 夜中にほえている声から判断すると相当体躯の大きな堂々たる犬らしい)

It is also possible to make these 形動たり sound less formal by substituting とする
for とある:

堂々とした風采の人 'An imposing person.'

これだけの死者を行政はどう思っているのかと暗澹たる気分になる One gets gloomy, wondering what the government
thinks of this many deaths.

この暢気な連中をどうやって守るかを考えると暗澹とした気分になった When I considered how I was to protect a
carefree crowd like this, I felt gloomy.

To finally answer your question, the writer has adverbialized 徒花たる, yielding
徒花と.

'As' is an accurate translation of と in these instances.


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